Reds' Devin Mesoraco ready for his role

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco talks with pitcher Mike Leake during spring training. Mesoraco has caught each of the starters at least twice so far.(Photo: The Enquirer/Gary Landers)

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Devin Mesoraco, the Reds' likely Opening Day catcher, has caught Johnny Cueto, the Reds' likely Opening Day pitcher, a grand total of one inning in the regular season.

The two have been teammates since Mesoraco broke into the majors in 2011. Mesoraco has caught a total of 25 pitches from Cueto in the regular season. Since Cueto joined the Reds in 2008, seven other catchers have been behind the plate for Cueto more than Mesoraco's lone inning – Ramon Hernandez (385 2/3 innings), Ryan Hanigan (361), Paul Bako (134 2/3), Corky Miller (36), David Ross (28 1/3), Craig Tatum (11) and Dioner Navarro (7).

Mesoraco only caught Cueto once – last July, when Hanigan was injured. Cueto left that start, at Texas, after just one inning after aggravating the lat injury that cost him most of the 2013 season.

Former Reds manager Dusty Baker preferred to match up his battery instead of his catcher against the starting pitcher. Last year Mesoraco caught Mike Leake and Mat Latos, while Hanigan caught Arroyo, Cueto and Bailey. Before Cueto was teamed up with Hanigan, Hernandez primarily caught Cueto.

With Baker and Hanigan gone and Bryan Price in charge and Brayan Pena as the backup, that's not going to be the case any longer.

"Devin's the No. 1 catcher. He's going to catch more than he's caught in the past here," Price said early in camp, and has given no indication that those plans have changed. "We feel like he's ready to lead our staff. Brayan's going to be the second guy. Unless there's a reason to do it, I don't have any intention on lining up our starters with one particular catcher over the course of the entire year."

For Mesoraco, that's a welcome statement. Not only is it nice to hear he'll be the No. 1 guy (something that was all but declared from Walt Jocketty's office when Pena was signed in November), but it's a strategy that makes more sense to him.

Now, it will matter just as much which pitcher is starting for the other team as it does who is starting for the Reds, and that's how Mesoraco likes it.

"Any time there's a lefty on the mound, it didn't matter who it was, I felt confident. And without me being in there, I knew I could have brought a little more – not that Hanny did a bad job against lefties, he hit lefties too – but I knew I was confident against those guys and I could hit them, but it wasn't my day to catch," said Mesoraco, who for his career has hit .312 with a .365 on-base percentage and .472 slugging percentage against left-handers versus .199/.257/.324 against right-handers. "By the same token, there were guys that I knew I was going to struggle with and it was my day, so I had to catch them. Whatever it is going forward, the past is the past, but going forward everything is going to be exciting."

Already this spring, Mesoraco has caught each of the starters at least twice, helping aid his familiarity, especially with Cueto and Bailey. Mesoraco has caught Bailey more than he had Cueto – 29 games, but just five last season – but it's still been important to get on the same page with all of the starters.

"He's caught me one or two games. He looks more comfortable back there," Bailey said. "The good thing is he's open to where he's trying to get a feel for us, listening, trying to take instruction from (catching coordinator Mike) Stefanski and getting on the same page, how we like catchers to set up or where we want our target.

"It's all about information. For him asking as many questions as he can is a good thing, so at least he knows where we stand."

Mesoraco, now entering his third full season, isn't much younger than most of the Reds' pitchers. The Reds' five starters are all 28 or younger, and Mesoraco will be 26 in June, older than only Tony Cingrani, but born within a year of Latos and Leake. The older four starters all have more big-league experience than Mesoraco and the catcher certainly had less experience than Hanigan, leaving him feeling uneasy in his place at times. That's gone now, he said.

"For me, at this time, I feel like I'm able to tell the pitchers what I think. I think I can say, we need to do this, we need to do that. In the past, I didn't feel comfortable doing that," Mesoraco said. "For one, I wasn't as familiar with these guys as I would have liked to have been and Hanny was here, and he was here before me and he was playing the majority of the games. If I went up to one of the pitchers and said something that – I just didn't think that'd be right. At this point I feel like I can be more of a leader of the staff. I'm kind of in charge and helping them out as much as I can."

For the first time, the Reds are Mesoraco's team. There's more on his broad shoulders than ever before, but everything that's come before – from struggles to a demotion in 2011 – has made him stronger and ready for the opportunity.

It's an opportunity the Reds believe he's ready to shoulder, and they backed that belief up by removing his safety net in Hanigan.

"I'm not looking over my shoulder, worried about anyone else coming out and taking my job," Mesoraco said. "I'm focused on getting ready, helping the pitchers get ready. I feel a whole lot more comfortable and a whole lot less pressure. People are asking about pressure. I feel less this year because it's my job. I can go out there and be me, and it's going to work out."